I purchased a suit-weight white/cream linen to make these awesome BurdaStyle pants: 04/2012 121.

They're slim fitting straight leg pants that I think would be incredibly versatile to wear. I made a muslin and the darn thing looked and felt about perfect on me without alterations.

I want to use the underlining technique that allows you to have a nice hong-kong style seam finish (basically add an extra 1/2-5/8" seam allowance on all the vertical seams, then sew french-like seams on the vertical seams so that the edges are enclosed), so I can't use something too bulky. The other seams I plan to use bias underlining fabric as seam tape.

I purchased a pretty nude/peach silk habotai to use as underlining, but now am thinking that it might be too lightweight for the pants. I don't need the body from organza (was going to use that for interfacing on the facings though) and think that might be too itchy anyway. I found a couple beige medium-weight silk twills at Mood but the linen is the perfect weight for pants so am concerned about adding bulk.

Should I continue on with the habotai, knowing that these pants might not last all that long because of it? Or use some other fabric for underlining? I'd prefer a natural, breathable fabric because these need to be comfortable in 100+ Texas summer temps.

Hmm. I hadn't thought of batiste; I was mostly looking at silks. I've found a couple blurbs on the internet where people had underlined their linen pants with habotai, although organza seems to be more common/recommended.

I think I'll try the habotai, since I already have it. If the pants don't last more than a season I'll try again next Spring (and hopefully get around to sewing them up before Labor Day like this year!)!

Organza underlining will keep your linen trousers from wrinkling/stretching so much, so it serves a different purpose than a lining. A really fine organza shouldn't be scratchy at all, but it may not give you the coverage you want.

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